My favorite sage once told me "better look out" else you won't "see" :-) This is a wanderer's wanderlust !!, an attempt to navigate through the omnipresent urban blindness, albeit without any kind compass, and yet, inadvertently and magically, stumble upon the ever elusive truth.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Every single media is screaming hoarse, how bloody terrible the gangrape of a 23 year old is. And before I proceed further I must wear my heart on my sleeve – it gives me the freeze chill as well, definitely makes me ponder and debate : a society that believes women can be so brutally oppressed, cannot be in great health. The mirror on the wall only has few words written on it : Tragedy. Shame. Fear. End.

What bothers me about this whole episode is the lazy couch potato Moral Indignation, that has come with it. Almost as if, we as a society are having collective pop catharsis. Group therapy, huh?

Times of India, as an example is running this massive poll – choosing the democratic approach to figure out the appropriate punishment for this rapist – capital, chemical castration, bobbitization and some other similar phucking irony.

Let take a drift.

What about the incident above was a new insight to any of us?

Did you not know that street children (and women) are routinely sodomised and prostituted….and if sodomy of a 10 year old does not sound like a rape of monster proportions, maybe you still eat Poppins.

Did you not know, that women in our society are treated subpar, even in most sophisticated families – why? because we are a patriarchal society, or so I am being told. I work with folks in a true green blooded investment bank, and even here – folks continue to expect their spouses (read wives) to be servile - cook, clean and take care of the house….a woman’s life continues to be associated with service. When shall we ever look upon, man and woman as two individuals with different biology, but similar egos, hopes and desires?

Did you not know that, we can routinely get away with murder, quite literally. Look at the amount of muck in our leadership (in every territory, be it political or so called spiritual bozos or business or social)….try and think of a good leader role model in each of those categories and you will realize we are as bankrupt as Zimbabwe….lots of dead weight, but no real paper.

Did you not know, that prosecution of an accused, is slow if ever in our country….and usually in most cases, the accused have either escaped or died a natural death, before they are even close to being prosecuted.

Did you not know, that not a single aspect of our nation is pristine. Drive on the road, and you shall find cabbies drive like rules don’t apply; walk into a parking lot, and goons have their cars parked in handicapped zones; travel by flight, and the security is a joke; walk into a RTO office, and you have to carry 5kg of grease with you; walk into your apartment complex and the security guard with the amazingly rotund potbelly is snoring……

Get the drift? My one and only point, why this fucking media circus of indignation, pray tell me?

When shall we learn that any tragedy has two aspects, like even in this rape: 1) Personal : We can never ever even hope to really understand whats going through the victim or her immediate web of life. And even if we ever fucking do, we can do nothing more than….she and her web have to walk this life alone. Some wounds cannot be understood by circus’, let alone heal them.

2) Social : The rapist in this example, is not Ram Singh, or whatever his name is, but its us. We as a society have created conditions ideal for a rape. Our security is a joke. Our social fabric is a non-existent. Moreover, we did not give Ram any access to education, spiritual sophistication, well being or most importantly Hope. Guess what, he is now turned into a bloody minded crooked thinking hedonist, who thinks this life is nothing but a wave, ride it, fuck it, rape it….and then go back home….come back the next day and do the same again.

We can castrate, hang, electrotute Ram Singh – but this public circus can never neuter the real evil devil – who, we should clearly understand, is not one human being, but it’s the collective of us, which includes lumpen like you and me, who so wilfuly abuse our wives, ignore our children and continue to break traffic rules.

There is only one right place for such petty spiky indignation – your cornhole….stuff the cactus right in…and enjoy the hurt.

"My kick the bucket" list

** 1. Scale Everest.** 2. Bike down to Leh3. Publish a work of fiction.** 4. Run a 42k Marathon.5. Do a 3 month Vipaasna course6. Motor down to Leh7. Visit the Golden Temple8. Watch a Roger Waters Concert9. Write a book of poems (not necessarily publish)

(** refers to items which the defeatist in me feels I shall never achieve.....)